Friday, August 12, 2005

Before The Weekend...

.:Today's LSS:.

None for today. I'm a bit rushed, so I don't have time, really. Sorry about that, but the fact that this is a pretty meaty post should more than suffice.

.:Now It's Time:.

As I think the timezones are now configured correctly, I can safely greet my best friend, Sacha Chua, a happy 22nd birthday. I'm extremely happy for you, jabroni, and I hope you're having a ball today as well.

.:A Poll:.

Who’s smarter? Batman, or Mr. Fantastic?

.:Imeldific:.

I by no means am a huge fan of Imelda. However, that does not preclude the fact that she is certainly larger than life, and a person who will simply leave a mark on you once you meet her.

When I took up Ma’am Cecille on her invitation for me to go to Madame Imelda Marcos’ party, I went there with a lot of curiosity. After all, what kind of projects does the former first lady have in mind to make the country a more “beautiful” place? My interest was piqued, so I headed to Mariano Marcos Street in San Juan to see what was up.

It was weird when I finally saw her. She was indeed larger than life, and the moment she walked into the room, I was the first one she acknowledged. I was dumbstruck, as she genuinely seemed to fawn over me and I had no idea at all why...

Anyways, so I got there, and started talking to a few of the other guests, people I naturally was worried of offending. For all I know, they could’ve been very dear friends of Madame Imelda and would defend her honor had I said a single negative word about her, though in fairness to her, she was a very gracious host. She was amused about finding out I was a teaching assistant, as she brought up that she used to be a Grade 1 teacher when she was still young.

After a few minutes of talking to her as she practically repeated dialogue from her documentary (“Oh, when they opened my closet, they didn’t find skeletons. They found shoes.”), we were then ushered to the gym for dinner. The food was great. Whole shitake mushrooms are absobloodylutely nothing to sneeze at. The fried chicken was pretty good as well.

After about an hour or so into the food, she started talking. Let me tell you that it felt like deja vu.

But in fairness to her again, her speech, as soon as it got on track, which was about 5% of the time, sounded promising. She didn’t take any shots at GMA, but rather emphasized how she loves the country and sees it as truly beautiful. Her plan about extracting Deuterium was interesting. The plan to build a tunnel across Luzon wasn’t.

Let’s talk about the latter plan. She feels it’s going to be better than the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. That’s all good. In 1521. Her pipe dreams of making the Philippines the trade route of choice for all countries is a bit inane because waterways are now more or less not as hostile as they were during the time the Suez Canal was a practical necessity. In short, inane, and a waste of time.

In contrast, the plan of extracting Deuterium as an infinite energy source sounds very plausible. Until you realize that she refuses to turn to private companies or the government for help with this. She simply wants this to be an endeavor spearheaded by her, with the help of the Filipino people in general. Noble? Indeed. Feasible? No.

Deuterium, assuming it’s as good as it’s supposed to be, will displace petroleum. There is no way in Hades companies like Petron and Shell will let their precious company dissolve in one fell swoop just because. Couple that with the sheer expense of retrofitting vehicles to sport Deuterium engines instead of gasoline or diesel engines, and then consider how incompatible our fuel systems would be in contrast to the rest of the world. Projects like these will take a decade or so to implement. Madame Imelda intends for it to be done two years after she beats the raps against her.

And remember that segment about the 7 Pillars Of Moral Regeneration? The one that ends up turning into ten, and how Binary 1’s and 0’s will make something look like an apple, which is a computer brand? Yes, that part that makes you think you were smoking something illegal while watching it? Yes, she said it all in her speech.

Despite that, she was indeed a very gracious host. Wonderful food, wonderful company for the most part, and by the end of it, she gave everyone a gyro-powered flashlight. It was particularly amazing, as it doesn’t require batteries at all. On my way out, she thanked me immensely and apologized for the monologue...

This is one of my listeners. Actually, one of WAVE’s listeners. Arguably the most rabidly loyal of them all. And I have a problem with her.

You see, inasmuch as I appreciated it when she was giving me some nice ideas about my show, I began to realize how big a kick she seemed to be getting out of practically dictating to me how I should run my show. Soon enough, I’m getting the hint that she just wants to be a jock in WAVE and have it over and done with.

This isn’t really about me being an ingrate for all her nifty ideas. It’s more about me pointing out how she clearly can be overstepping her bounds as of late, especially since she’s the only person I know who has no idea who Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali are. So why would she think people can’t relate when I ask them which of these two they think would win in a fight?

I think it puts me off a bit, especially since I feel it’s only a matter of time before she begins to throw religion into the mix, as she clearly dislikes Harry Potter solely on that basis, which I find rather rushed and uninformed, particularly when most people who never read the series only have hearsay to base their opinions upon. People who try to be cool by going against what’s popular, and so forth.